In the prior art machines, the user has no way of knowing when the current messages have ended during an operation in which he causes the message tape to rewind, and then to move in the forward direction, so that he can retrieve the messages recorded on the message tape. This is because, when the message tape is set to playback, it will continue to reproduce all current messages, and will continue to move in the forward direction after the current messages have all been reproduced. This continued forward movement of the message tape often results in previously unerased messages being reproduced. This tends to cause confusion to the user, since it is often difficult to distinguish between current and previous messages.
The problem described in the preceding paragraph is solved by the control system of U.S. Pat. No. 4,558,179, which is assigned to the present Assignee. In the system disclosed in that patent, the message tape is rewound by the operation of a local switch, which, when operated, causes the message tape to rewind, and then to move forward and play back all the recorded messages, and which automatically causes the forward motion of the message tape to stop after the user has retrieved all current messages recorded on the message tape. In the system described in the patent, the single operation of the local switch causes the machine to perform all the foregoing operations, and also causes the machine, after the operations have been completed, to return to its automatic answer condition ready for the next call.
The foregoing is achieved in the machine described in the patent by a microcomputer which senses the displacement of the message tape when a rewind operation is initiated by operation of the manual switch, and which then automatically causes the message tape to stop at the end of the ensuing playback operation when the tape again reaches the point at which rewind was initiated.
The control system described in the patent returns the machine to its automatic answering condition after the message tape has been automatically stopped at the end of the playback operation. The control system described in the patent then returns the machine to its automatic answering condition after the message tape has been automatically stopped.
Should the user wish to retain the messages on the message tape in the system described in the patent, no further operation on his part is necessary.
In the system of the present invention, if the user does not wish to retain the messages on the message tape, he causes the message tape to rewind to a selected origin position, by again operating the manual switch. Other control operations are also possible in the system of the present invention by subsequent operations of the manual switch, as will be described.